Conundrum
by cloudy eve
Summary: Everything starts with an e-mail from Rin consisting of only a picture of the sky. Rin x Len


A/N: Again, thank you to _**MetaTin**_! This time it's a Len x Rin (my first shot at this pairing) and not twincest. Enjoy!

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Conundrum  
::Len x Rin::

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Everything starts when Len finds an e-mail without a single word sent by Rin, composed of only a single attachment titled ''. The picture itself is nothing but a clear, spotless light blue. The boy stares at it for a while, and re-checks Rin's mail. Nothing, not a single clue of what the blueness could be.

_Is this a prank?_ It's the first thought that enters his mind. But Rin would never prank him. They pull pranks on the other Vocaloids, not on each other.

Downloading the picture despite his confusion, Len leaves his laptop on his bed and walks out of the room they share to find her. He scouts every nook and cranny of the mansion, from the rooftop to the ground floor, but in the end it's completely useless. Slumping on the sofa in exhaustion, he decides to ask Yuzuki Yukari, who is passing through with a cup of tea. "Have you seen Rin anywhere?"

"Unfortunately, no." The lavender-haired girl shakes her head, feeling a little crestfallen herself for disappointing the boy. "She has been out since this morning, I think. I heard from Luka."

"Oh. Uh, thanks. I'll just go back to my room then…"

When he re-enters his room, Len immediately checks his laptop. Sitting in his mailbox is a another e-mail from Rin. At least this time there's some text: '_don't you think this looks like a banana?_' And attached to the mail is another picture—''. He clicks it open to find a long splotch of dense, wispy white against the same blue backdrop. A picture of…

_The sky_. It finally dawns on him. The blue picture from earlier must've been a cloudless sky, and this one a banana-shaped cloud. Rin has never been weirder. Why'd she suddenly take an interest in the sky? She's never paid it much attention before, never asking him to cloud-gaze or stargaze or do anything related to the sky with her. When he points out that the orange and vermillion of the sunset is more vivid than usual, she'd only spare a glance and a "yeah" that's most probably just to satisfy him.

When Rin finally returns, it's late at night and way past dinnertime. She changes into a loose t-shirt and shorts and just lays on her bed. Len sits on his own bed, his typing on the keyboard the only sound in the room. It's apparent that the girl isn't going to explain about her sudden disappearance and the two pictures of the sky sent to him, so he speaks up, trying to sound nonchalant. "So, Rin, what's with your sky pictures? You never seemed to be very interested in the sky before."

Rin is silent. Len waits for her answer with false patience, feeling awfully jittery inside. He's actually awfully tense, and it's harder than expected for him to maintain a relaxed posture as he sits cross-legged, eyes focused on his laptop. He dares a glimpse. Rin is sitting now, her legs dangling and eyes averted to the ceiling, a slender finger on her lips. Her thinking pose.

_Is she making up some excuse now?_

"You always say that you're smarter than me, Len." She says, after a long pause. He turns to face her. She's smiling, but her sapphire eyes are serious. "Why don't you tell me?"

A challenge. Other people might just roll their eyes and say 'just tell me why', but Len is the type of person to take up any challenge shoved his way, no matter how impossible.

"Because you think the sky is pretty today?" He tries his first guess.

"That's lame. And you're the one who said that I never care about the sky anyway." Before he can make another guess, she interrupts. "Tell you what, you can only guess once a day. I'll give you a month."

"A week." Len argues. A month is simply too long. Does she think he's stupid? Whatever secret Rin is hiding behind the picture, he'll turn the world upside down if he has to, if it's to reveal it.

"Two weeks." Rin bargains. "I'll give you two weeks, starting tomorrow. You have fourteen guesses."

"Fine by me."

The morning after, Rin's bed is empty and cold when he wakes up. In exchange, there's a new e-mail in his mailbox. Hurriedly, he opens the mail, only to find no text and just another picture. The dawn sky greets him in its pastel beauty—mauve, rose, and the palest of orange blending while the sun hasn't completely risen yet. Baby blue dyes the upper part of the picture, the wispiest of clouds floating idly.

The picture is of no help. It's pretty to look at, sure, but it doesn't even have a single clue to unravel the 'secret' Rin is telling him. No words, just a myriad of colors.

And so Len makes his second guess. "The clouds look funny. Well, you think they look funny and want to show me or something."

Her reply: "The first picture I sent you doesn't even have any clouds."

"Give me a hint." He blurts out, rather grudgingly. If he wants to solve Rin's puzzle of sky pictures quickly, then it's better to get any help he can.

"So quick to give up?" She taunts, snickering. "I thought you'd like to figure it out all by yourself."

"Just a little hint. Something that won't give it away immediately."

"Three syllables." Rin raises three fingers. "That's the only hint I can give you. And feel free to ask anyone for their help, though it's rather unlikely that they'll know."

"Good enough." Even though it's too vague, almost as vague as the pictures she sends him. And there's no way that he'll ask for help. Len snorts inwardly. Yeah, right. He'll figure this out all by himself.

Nine days later, the blond-haired boy groans as he lazes around on Luka's plush carpeted floor. Every single one of his guesses are wrong, and Rin looks more disappointed with each wrong answer. His heart clenches at the memory of the slight falter of her smile and the barely noticeable glimmer of her eyes dimming. He hates seeing her like that, her sunny disposition covered by gray clouds. And he hates himself more for causing her to feel like that.

"You know I can't really help you with it, Len. Rin's unpredictable, and you're the one who knows her best." Luka turns around from her laptop. Blue-rimmed glasses sit upon her nose. She looks a little strange with spectacles, Len thinks, but the sight of her glasses-covered eyes disappears as she faces her computer again, continuing to type away.

"But you're a girl, and Rin's a girl. There's gotta be something you know. Like… women's intuition or something." He scrunches up his nose, frowning as he stares up at the pink-haired woman. So much for 'solving Rin's little riddle alone'. "I know that the answer isn't sky-related, about its beauty or whatever. Rin keeps telling me so. She also said something about three syllables, but who knows how it connects to her pictures."

"Hmm." Luka replies, not really listening. It's impossible to listen to Len's rant and file away songs at the same time. She curses their Master for 'entrusting' the job to her because he's too lazy to do it himself. And why wouldn't he be? There are literally billions of Vocaloid songs and easily over half of them belong to Miku.

Coming across a certain song, Luka pauses in her work. "Len, look." She hears shuffling and soon the younger Vocaloid's head peers over her shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Look." She moves her cursor over to the song, double-clicking it. A window pops open and the song plays, the two quietly listening.

"This is Rin. I know, Luka."

"Just listen."

"It's one of her higher-ranked songs, I know…"

"Listen to it till the end." The pink-haired woman insists, clamping a hand to cover his mouth.

When the song fades, Len is left gaping, crimson tainting his face. He falls back, Luka's plush carpet cushioning him, and rolls around the room. "I'm so dense… and I feel so stupid right now." He groans. Feeling giddy and embarrassed all over, he buries his head in Luka's tuna-shaped pillow, receiving complaints from the older Vocaloid.

"I've helped you, so don't go kissing my pillow! Kiss someone else!" She steals the pillow from him, hugging it tightly and pouting. "Now that you know what it means, go tell her already!"

"But it's too embarrassing… I don't think I can face Rin with a straight face… I'll end up looking dumber than ever." He whines.

"Be a man," Luka scoffs, picking Len up by his collar and dropping him outside her room. "No wonder everyone calls you a _shota_."

Len takes a deep breath. He'll send the song and see how Rin reacts—if he's wrong, then this will be nothing but a misunderstanding and he'll never be able to face her again. The girl's smiling face pops into his mind and Len shakes his head furiously, screaming, "Noooo! Get out of my head I don't need to be even more nervous!"

"Are you going crazy or what, Len?" Rin's voice pipes up as she opens the door to their room. "Screaming so loudly like that… did a cockroach appear?"

"I am not scared of cockroaches." _My face is so red good grief what should I do Rin looks so cute wait don't go there stay calm stay calm…_ "No pictures to send today?" He continues nervously.

"Oh. That's right. Wait a moment." Rin frowns and flips her phone open, tapping away as she speaks. "No guesses today?"

"Check your e-mail. I, uh, have something to show you." Okay, the nervousness might just kill him right then and there. The wait until his blonde-haired partner-in-crime opens the mail and let the melody of the song flow into the room is agonizing. "So… Sky… S・K・Y… it stands for 'suki yo', right? Three syllables. Meaning, 'I like you.'" He blurts out. Each day, for a little more than a week, she's been sending him confession after confession, albeit in a terribly roundabout manner. It doesn't matter though. A confession is still a confession, and he hasn't realized it until the song.

"Yep. You guessed it right." Her voice cracks. Scarlet staining her cheeks, Rin turns to him. Anxiety is reflected in her eyes, a shiny sheen of tears ready to spill causing the blur irises to become glassy. "…Nn… so…?" Rin all but whimpers.

Does she really think he'll reject her? The thought stings him, it really does. Len gathers her up in his arms. "I… I like you too." His face feels warm again. His heartbeat is faster than usual. Rin's song is still playing in the background. The atmosphere is perfect.

Rin buries her head into his shoulder, mumbling, "I had really thought you wouldn't figure it out… you're always so dense about these kind of things, Len… you won't even know romance even if it's shoved into your face."

"H-hey, that's not true! It's 'cause… I only have eyes for you." It's an incredibly corny thing to say but all too effective and true. He's never really cared about any other girl besides Rin. Rin is good enough—heck, she's more than good enough. Whenever she's around, his world shines with a brilliance that he hasn't ever noticed before, so yeah, maybe he really is too dense.

"Len…" Blue gazes into blue. The rest of the world vanishes. There's only him and her in their room. The song begins to fade as it reaches its end.

"Rin…" He can just kiss her. She looks too cute, with her teary eyes ("happy tears," she says, sniffling) and red face. He really can. Nervousness about to wrack his body, Len leans in.

"Don't close my eyes!" Both hear the wails of a girl, and Len stops midway. Their own little world is shattered, the romantic ambience ruined. "Meanie!"

"Shh!"

"Stop trashing around!"

The door is kicked open. Rin and Len can only stare. There, beyond the door, all the members of their 'family' is crouching, embarrassed looks etched on their faces. Yuki, Ryuuto and Oliver have their eyes covered by Kiyoteru, Gumi and Big Al respectively, while the rest are openly staring in the ensuing silence. Some are stifling giggles, a few others snapping a photograph or two (or more).

"R-r-r…" Len stutters. "Run them over!"

"With the Road Roller!" Rin follows suit. The key to said bulldozer dangles from her fingers. The Kagamines' eyes glint dangerously.

"Run!" Miku chimes in, speeding away as she announces it, though she's grinning all the way. The eavesdropping Vocaloids all follow suit, scattering into various directions.

That afternoon, the sound of engine roaring and a suspicious-looking yellow bulldozer paving its way down the street capture the neighbors' attention but no one bothers doing anything. It's just another normal day with a special spectacle for them.

Night falls, the orange and red of the sunset sky consumed by the indigo and black of the night sky. Len and Rin laugh as they park the Road Roller at a nearby park, foregoing dinner and opting to stargaze instead. They lay on top of the Road Roller, hand in hand, fingers pointing to the sky as they identify constellation by constellation.

"…and that's Gemini." Rin finishes tracing a line through the stars. "…us."

"Yeah, like that song we sang, right? 'Gemini'?"

"Mm-hmm. And we'll never be separated, right, Len?"

"Yeah." Len smiles, abruptly sits up, and leans in for a quick peck. He returns to his previous position soon enough, Rin speechless and blushing beside him. His face also feels warm despite the chilly night, and he's sure that Rin can see it.

"Len…"

"…yeah?"

"You kissed the part between my lips and nose, silly."


End file.
